f you’re moving high cube containers on South African roads it’s illegal.This after a moratorium granting blanket exemption to regulation 224 (b) of the National Road Traffic Regulations that limits the height of a vehicle transporting a high cube container to 4.3m ended on January 1. Although the Department of Transport (DoT) indicated in its discussions with industry representatives that this moratorium would be extended for a further 18months to June 2021, it had not been officially extended by the end of December.Quintus van der Merwe, a partner at Shepstone & Wylie, told FTW this made the transport of any high cube container unlawful at present.Coming in at an overall height of 2.9m, high cubes when transported on the back of a standard trailer exceed the 4.3m regulation by 30cm at 4.6m.It remains unclear why the extension of the moratorium was not gazetted by the end of 2019.According to Mike Walwyn, a consultant for the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) and mandated by several major shipper organisations to represent them on the high cube issue, DoT officials gave their assurance that the moratorium extension would be gazetted before the end of 2019. A date of December 13 had originally been agreed upon. Walwyn said industry remained in discussion with the DoT to determine why it had not been gazetted as yet, adding that there had not been any reports of trucks being stopped and fined as yet.Any of the nine provincial traff ic authorities as well as any municipality in South Africa does, however, have the right to stop and fine any transporter moving a high cube at 4.6m.“It is quite a complicated issue,” said Van der Merwe, who indicated that traffic officials did indeed have the right to stop and issue fines at present. Truckers, he said, could arguably oppose these fines under the legitimate expectation principle.But, Van der Merwe said, in light of the current uncertainty and the potential for serious disruption to business and trade, industry was best advised to rather put the transport minister on notice as soon as possible to get clarity on this issue than fight each fine ind iv idua l ly.“From a legal perspective it is by far the safest approach. This means either the minister gazettes the extension immediately or the high court is approached for a order that calls on the minister to give effect to what he advised in the consultative group. Failing this, industry could then approach the high court for appropriate relief.”Industry, however, has been loath to go the legal route with the high cube issue.According to Kevin Martin, a former chairman of the Harbour Carriers’ Association, high cubes continue to be transported.“As transporters we are putting ourselves in a very difficult position. There is the risk of a fine, but more so, what happens in the case of an accident where our underwriters decide to walk away and not pay out because we have been moving these containers illegally?”He said the inability of government to timeously extend the moratorium had in effect made every transporter of a high cube container a criminal.At the time of going to press the DoT had not responded to FTW’s request for comment.